Summer the time for jobs

Temporary gigs a chance to shine professionally

Student job seekers at the Youth Power career fair at City Hall in Edmonton in a 2012 file photo.

Photograph by: Bruce Edwards/file
, Edmonton Journal

About 295,000 unfilled jobs across the private sector in Canada are fuelling an early rush on the summer hiring season and recruitment branch manager Leslie Heathers is already seeing the evidence.

"We're seeing a lot of short-term assignments, which is typically the indication that summer's around the corner," says Heathers, with Robert Half Technology's Calgary office.

"We've definitely picked up from a volume perspective."

More of those short-term assignments are turning into permanent hires, she adds.

"We've had quite a few of our assignments going from temporary to full-time hires," Heathers says.

"You see that a lot where the client wants to try before they buy."

Workers are heading out in droves for their holidays during the summer months this year, representing a prime opportunity for those looking for work to make their move.

According to a BMO Insurance study, 83 per cent of Canadians are planning on taking a vacation between May and October this year.

Albertans and other Prairie residents lead the way at 92 per cent, followed by B.C. workers (89 per cent), those in the Atlantic provinces (88 per cent) and Ontarians at 85 per cent.

Quebecers are the least likely to take vacations during the summer months at just 70 per cent, according to the study's findings.

When it comes to effectively networking, though, many job hunters fall victim to committing some common mistakes, says Heathers.

With the reliance on social media sites such as LinkedIn to find job opportunities, sometimes it's too easy to focus on the size of your network instead of the quality, she adds.

"When people are unemployed or even just starting to look at a job search, they start to panic and think the more people they have the better, but it really comes down to the relationship," says Heathers.

The most common networking mistakes are losing touch with your core contacts, exhausting your resources - using the same ones too many times - forgetting to show gratitude for referrals, choosing size over substance and failing to return favours, according to a Robert Half Technology study.

Sixty-three per cent of respondents rated quality of a professional network as very important, compared to 46 per cent who chose size.

"Knowing someone profession-ally and being willing to go to bat for that person are two different things," says John Reed, senior executive director with the staffing firm.

In Calgary, particularly, it's a close-knit business community where in-person meetings trump online networking contacts; where quality and depth of relationship goes a lot further than a brief encounter at an industry conference.

"It's really about who you know," says Heathers.

"Quality connections take awhile (to build).

"You've really got to know that person who's on your LinkedIn if you want to use them as someone to endorse you, as a reference (or) to get them to introduce you to someone else."

The large number of unfilled job opportunities is a persistent trend in Canada, remaining steady at 2.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

Saskatchewan has the highest vacancy rate in Canada at 3.9 per cent, followed by Alberta at 3.7 per cent.

Manitoba's vacancy rate is 2.3 per cent, Ontario's is 2.1 per cent, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick both are at 1.9 per cent, while Prince Edward Island fell short of the national average at 1.5 per cent.

More than 59,000 jobs remain unfilled in Alberta's private sector, up slightly at a 0.1 per cent increase from the first quarter of 2012.

"The vacancy rate in Alberta is still rising, but just not as fast as it has in the last couple of years," comments Richard Truscott, CFIB's Alberta director, in its study.

Heathers advises job seekers to get an early start on what's shaping up to be a busy hiring season this year by tapping into their network of contacts and building on it wisely. "Networking is a two-way street," she says.

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